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Jesus not only claimed to be the Son of God and God one with the Father, but he also claimed to be the expected messiah foretold in the Old Testament.
John 4:25-26 ." The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of man. Matt 17:22-23 And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day. "And they were deeply grieved.
It is interesting that Jesus would call himself this since he was not a son of man in the way we often think. He was born of the virgin Mary and by the Holy Spirit. Joseph was not his father. He was the Son of Man in two ways.
(1) As the Messiah being born through the family of David as well as, Jesse, Judah, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham as shown earlier. This genealogy traces him through man. Both Mary and Joseph's blood line can be traced through these people.(Mt.1:1-16, Lk.3:23-38). This title "Messiah" is also applied to Jesus because the Messiah that was to come in Old Testament prophecy was called the Son of Man Dan.7:13-14
(2) Jesus is also seen as the Son of Man referring to his humanity, when God became a man. Phil 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
John 1:1 & 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. & in verse 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So how important is it to accept Jesus' claims of who he is? According to Jesus it is very important, John 8:24-25, "I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He you shall die in your sins. "And so they were saying to Him, "Who are You?" Jesus said to them, "What have I been saying to you from the beginning?"
As we have already seen Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, God one with the Father and the son of God. So he told them unless they accepted that this is who he was they would die in their sins. So what does it mean to die in your sins? It means to die and be separated from God. The Bible declares that those who are separated from God spend eternity in a place called Hell. Fortunately Eternal Life is a free gift. All you have to do to gain eternal life is accept Jesus and make him Lord of your Life. (Mt.25:31-41, Jn.3:16-18, Rom.3:23, 1 Jn.1:10, James 2:10, Mt.5:22, Eph.2:8-9, Lk.6:44-49)
Who does the Bible declare Jesus to be? The church usually answers this question by referring to the Trinity. The Trinity is a title of a doctrine that the Bible teaches. Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary defines the Trinity as follows:
"The coexistence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Godhead (divine nature or essence). The doctrine of the trinity means that within the being and activity of the one God there are three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."
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